Page 6 - JSOM Winter 2018

in the Journal of Trauma in 2000. “This paper is the best and
most detailed analysis of the casualties sustained in this his-
toric battle and marks one of the very few times in history
(continued from page 1) that a medical person has participated in a battle as a com-
batant and ten gone on to describe the casualties sustained
received the Silver Star for his courage and initiative during and the care rendered and then analyze the lessons learned in
this engagement. a scholarly article,” Butler said. Mabry has subsequently au-
thored a number of well-regarded articles on tourniquet use,
“It is likely that there will never be a candidate with more airways, combat casualty evacuation from the battlefield, and
significant accomplishments in all aspects of prehospital com- high-level analyses of the organization and function of mili-
bat casualty care—from decorated combat medic to Emer- tary medicine. “In addition to his skill in communicating in
gency Medicine physician to superlative researcher to combat the published medical literature, Col. Mabry is an individual
medical leader—than Bob Mabry,” Dr. Butler said. Currently, who knows how to turn academic publications into action and
Mabry serves as the Command Surgeon for the Joint Special into lives saved.”
Operations Command—one of the most important and most
sought- after operational medicine positions in the U.S. mili- Mabry assisted in the development of the Combat Application
tary. The selection for this coveted position is made by some of Tourniquet—the most widely-used tourniquet in the U.S. mil-
the most senior officers in the U.S. Special Operations commu- itary at present—and then developed the initial guidelines on
nity. As the JSOC Command Surgeon, Col. Mabry is responsi- tourniquet use for the U.S. Army at a time when most of the
ble for all aspects of the health and readiness of our military’s military had not yet even fielded tourniquets. He later helped
most elite forces and provides oversight of the medical support to bring about a landmark change in the Army’s Combat Life-
of the highest priority missions that U.S. Special Operations saver program. His research resulted in intravenous access (IV
forces are called upon to carry out. starting) being taken out of the Army Combat Lifesaver cur-
riculum, thereby removing a task that has never been shown
“I am humbled and honored to be have been chosen for this
award,” the colonel said. “It is truly an honor to be considered to improve outcomes in combat casualties, when crystalloid
in the same company as past recipients like Dr. Frank Butler fluids are used for resuscitation, as they were at the time. This
and Dr. John Holcomb.” impactful change in the guidelines allowed Combat Lifesavers
to focus on more important interventions, such as control of
Mabry’s first job in the Army external hemorrhage.
was right out of high school as Mabry has been in the forefront of advancing our understand-
an infantryman in the Army ing and treatment of combat airway injuries over the last two
Rangers (1984–87). He re- decades. “His paper that reviewed airway fatalities from au-
enlisted to become a Special topsy data at the Office of Armed Forces Medical Examiner is
Forces (Green Beret) medic the best analysis on this topic from the recent conflicts. That
after his first tour in the Army. and his three subsequent papers on airway injuries and surgi-
“I knew nothing about medi- cal airways have firmly established him as one of the military’s
cine, but at the time the Spe- preeminent experts on the management of the traumatized air-
cial Forces medical sergeant way on the battlefield,” Butler said.
or 18D military occupational
specialty (MOS) was the most Mabry led the largest combat medic training operation in the
academically rigorous course world as academic director for the Army Department of Com-
in the Army with the high- bat Medic Training, successfully advocated for doubling the
est washout rate and highest length of the combat medic field training exercise to 16 days
re-enlist bonus of any other and supervised the training of approximately 16,000 combat
MOS in the Army.” During his training he spent a month medics during his time at DCMT.
working in the hospital in a role similar to a 3rd year medical Rather than be content to dwell in the ranks of the silent dis-
student. “During that time, I saw a child in the emergency satisfied, Col. Mabry studied the underlying reasons for the
room with an injured arm. The ER doctor was not sure what observed delays in im-
was wrong and had ordered x-rays. I had examined the patient proving combat casualty
and taken a history and based on the mechanism of injury care in the U.S. military
felt she had a common dislocation called a ‘nursemaids elbow’ and presented his find-
that is easily managed. I told the ER doctor this and we fixed ings in one of the most
it right on the spot. I had made a call that he had missed. I remarkable papers to
thought then that I could be a doctor someday.” After he was come out of the conflicts
assigned to Special Forces at Fort Bragg, Mabry spent the next in Iraq and Afghanistan.
eight years or so going to night school in between deploying an Entitled “Challenges to
average of 6-8 months per year. In 1995, he completed medi- Improving Combat Ca-
cal school prerequisites and was accepted into medical school sualty Survival on the
at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Battlefield,” this insightful paper outlines the organizational
where he was president of his medical school class and a mem- barriers, divided responsibilities, and the distributed authori-
ber of Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society.
ties that collectively impede advances in caring for our nation’s
While still a medical student, Butler said Mabry authored a wounded service members, Dr. Butler said. Mabry also did a
superbly written review of the medical lessons learned from two-year tour at the Joint Trauma System, during which time
the casualties sustained in Mogadishu, which was published he served as director for trauma care delivery.

4 | JSOM Volume 18, Edition 4 / Winter 2018